{"id":307599,"date":"2024-08-17T20:57:03","date_gmt":"2024-08-17T15:27:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=307599"},"modified":"2024-08-17T20:57:03","modified_gmt":"2024-08-17T15:27:03","slug":"womens-economic-empowerment-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/womens-economic-empowerment-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Women’s Economic Empowerment in India"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source-<\/strong>This post on Women’s Economic Empowerment in India<\/strong> has been created based on the article \u201cSeven decades after Independence, the unfulfilled dreams of India\u2019s women leaders\u201d<\/strong> published in \u201cThe Indian Express\u201d<\/strong> on 17 August 2024.<\/p>\n

UPSC Syllabus – GS Paper 1 – <\/strong>Role of Women and Women\u2019s Organization<\/p>\n

Context<\/strong>– Over a century ago, Indian women activists began campaigning for female social, political, and economic empowerment. They recognized that women’s agency was constrained by financial dependency on male family members.<\/p>\n

What are some of the Early Women’s Organizations and Their Contributions?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

1) The Women’s Indian Association-<\/strong> In 1917, the Women\u2019s Indian Association was founded as the first national group focused on women\u2019s issues. Their publication, Stri Dharma, highlighted the struggles of women, including factory workers. Their activism led to laws banning night work for women and the 1929 Bombay Maternity Benefit Act, which provided eight weeks\u2019 wages around childbirth.<\/p>\n

2) The All-India Women’s Conference (AIWC)<\/strong>– In 1946, the AIWC approved the Indian Women\u2019s Charter, which called for better housing, separate kitchens and bathrooms, equal job opportunities, maternity benefits, and women\u2019s rights to consent on property matters and a share of their husband\u2019s income.<\/p>\n

3) National Planning Committee’s <\/strong>– The sub-committee on women, part of the National Planning Committee set up by Subhas Chandra Bose in 1939, supported the AIWC\u2019s ideas by calling for equal job opportunities, a common civil code, and gender-neutral inheritance laws.<\/p>\n

What are the challenges faced by the women?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

1) \u00a0Unpaid Domestic Work<\/strong> -A major focus for these activists was advancing the rights of women in informal employment and acknowledging the value of unpaid domestic work. However, progress in these areas has been gradual.<\/p>\n

2) Low Economic Participation<\/strong>– The World Economic Forum\u2019s 2024 Global Gender Gap Index ranks India 142nd out of 146 countries in economic participation. This low position highlights the ongoing struggle for women\u2019s economic freedom, as patriarchal barriers still restrict their independence.<\/p>\n

A detailed article on Female Labour Force Participation Rate<\/strong> can be read here.<\/a><\/p>\n

3) \u00a0Inheritance Rights and Social Attitudes-<\/strong>While inheritance laws have been updated to give women more rights, social attitudes can still undermine these changes. Women who receive equal benefits legally face societal backlash.<\/p>\n

What should be the way forward?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

1) Recognizing unpaid domestic work should go beyond just acknowledging women\u2019s resilience. It\u2019s important to provide economic support to homemakers through financial assistance.<\/p>\n

2) \u00a0Some states offer monthly financial support for women, like Gruha Lakshmi in Karnataka and Lakshmi Bhandar in West Bengal. These programs should be extended nationwide and updated for inflation.<\/p>\n

3) Slow progress on gender equality is largely due to outdated attitudes. There is a need to address these issues now and work towards the goals set by past women leaders.<\/p>\n

Question for practice<\/strong><\/p>\n

What were some of the early women’s organizations and their contributions? What challenges did women face, and what steps should be taken moving forward?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source-This post on Women’s Economic Empowerment in India has been created based on the article \u201cSeven decades after Independence, the unfulfilled dreams of India\u2019s women leaders\u201d published in \u201cThe Indian Express\u201d on 17 August 2024. UPSC Syllabus – GS Paper 1 – Role of Women and Women\u2019s Organization Context– Over a century ago, Indian women… Continue reading Women’s Economic Empowerment in India<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,1286],"tags":[263,10500,264],"class_list":["post-307599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-society","tag-gs-paper-1","tag-indian-express","tag-society","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307599\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}